Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, El Capitan Edition

Right-Clicking and Shortcut Menus

You can get terrific mileage out of shortcut menus on the Mac, just as in Windows (Figure 1-1).

Figure 1-1. A shortcut menu is one that pops out of something you’re clicking—an icon, a button, a folder. The beauty of shortcut menus is that they’re contextual. They bring up commands in exactly the spots where they’re most useful, in menus that are relevant only to what you’re clicking.

They’re so important, in fact, that it’s worth these paragraphs to explain the different ways you can trigger a “right-click.” (Apple calls it a secondary click, because not all of these methods actually involve a second mouse button. Also, left-handed people may want to make the left mouse button trigger a right-click.)

• Use the trackpad. If you have a trackpad (a laptop, for example), you can trigger a right-click in all kinds of ways:

  Out of the box, you do it by clicking the trackpad with two fingers. The shortcut menu pops right up.

  Or you can point to whatever you want to click. Rest two fingers on the trackpad—and then click with your thumb.

  But even those aren’t the end of your options. In System Preferences→Trackpad, you can turn on even more right-click methods (and even watch little videos on how to do them; see Figure 1-2). For example, you can “right-click” by clicking either the lower-right or lower-left corner of the trackpad—one finger only.

  

  Figure 1-2. The Trackpad pane of System Preferences looks different depending on your laptop model. But this one shows the three ways to get a “right-click.”

• Control-click. You can open the shortcut menu of something on the Mac screen by Control-clicking it. That is, while pressing the Control key (bottom row), click the mouse on your target.

• Right-click. Experienced computer fans have always preferred the one-handed method: right-clicking. That is, clicking something by pressing the right mouse button on a two-button mouse.

  “Ah, but that’s what’s always driven me nuts about Apple,” goes the common refrain, “its refusal to get rid of its stupid one-button mouse!”

  Well, not so fast.

  First of all, you can attach any old $6 USB two-button mouse to the Mac, and it’ll work flawlessly. Recycle the one from your old PC, if you like.

  Furthermore, if you have a desktop Mac, then you already have a two-button mouse—but you might not realize it. Take a look: Is it a white, shiny plastic capsule with a tiny, gray scrolling track-pea on the far end? Then you have an Apple Mouse. Is it a cordless, flattened capsule instead? Then it’s the Magic Mouse. Each has a secret right mouse button. It doesn’t work until you ask for it.

  To do that, choose →System Preferences. Click Mouse. There, in all its splendor, is a diagram of the Mighty or Magic Mouse.

  Your job is to choose Secondary Button from the pop-up menu that identifies the right side of the mouse.

  From now on, even though there aren’t two visible mouse buttons, your mouse does, in fact, register a left-click or a right-click depending on which side of the mouse you push down. It works a lot more easily than it sounds like it would.